Though its seafaring days are gone forever, students repaired the 12-foot skiff for display at the Mukilteo Museum, which took possession of the craft on Sunday.

More important, Lee helped students take the skiff's "lines," or measurements, so anyone can reproduce it. After lofting a full-size pattern, the class built a replica from oak, fir and cedar.

The painstaking work marked a small but important step toward preserving the Northwest's boatbuilding heritage, which has long been overshadowed by the East Coast's longer and better-documented tradition.

"There are these boats that are sitting in people's back yards, shops and rafters, and they may be the only boats of their kind left," said Lee, who hopes to hear from people willing to part with old, wooden boats of local significance.

Rohrer is project manager on the newly restored Pirate, a 1926 racing sloop designed by legendary Seattle designer Ted Geary. He bought the boat with a syndicate in 1999 and donated it to the Center for Wooden Boats for public use.

This year the Northwest School devoted half its boatbuilding projects to Puget Sound designs, both historic and contemporary. Projects include a skiff of a type built by Seattle's Gandy Boat Co. from 1922 to 1967 and a 16-foot sloop designed in 1924 by prominent Seattle designer Leigh Coolidge.

Where do East and West designs part ways?

Lee said Puget Sound boats of the late 19th and early 20th centuries borrowed from immigrant cultures, from Norway to Japan to Eastern Europe. Small skiffs tended to be wide and stable, to prevent tipping under the formidable weight of Northwest salmon.

"I think of the Northwest Coast seiners and gill netters -- husky work boats that could take almost any weather," Graydon said. Early East Coast vessels, on the other hand, were often tailored for conditions on very specific waterways.

"Nobody has really paid a lot of attention to the Northwest maritime heritage," he said, "and it's high time they do it. Nobody is better qualified than the Northwest School."